If you are looking for two genuine Champions League contenders aside from Barcelona or Real Madrid then you don’t have to look much further than the city of Manchester this year. Both City and United have flown out of the traps in the Premier League and now they are about to show the rest of Europe what they are capable of.
Manchester City v Napoli
Four years after the Abu Dhabi United Group bought Manchester City they are finally dining with the big boys at Europe’s top table. Roberto Mancini managed to deal with the pressure put him on by the club’s mega-rich owners to secure Champions League football and is now looking to show what his star studded squad is capable of. If their Premier League form is anything to go by they should be more than a match for Napoli in a game they are 2/5 to win, with the Italians 8/1 and the draw 7/2.
Mancini’s summer editions have given City that extra bit of creativity they were lacking last season, with Samir Nasri and David Silva showing how deadly they can be together in their 5-1 rout of Tottenham. Up front they have added one of Europe’s deadliest strikers in Sergio Aguero, the Argentine having scored six goals in four appearances thus far. Mancini has an embarrassment of riches but these three look as though they will be key to City’s success in Europe.
Despite this being City’s maiden season in the Champions League you’d expect them to at least reach the knock out stages given the amount of experienced campaigners they have in their squad, with Yaya Toure and Carlos Tevez having won the competition.
They have been drawn in a tough group, with Bayern Munich and Villarreal to come, but City start with, on paper, the easiest game they will have in Napoli at home. The Azzuri might have won at Cesena at the weekend but traditionally don’t travel well in Europe, managing one win in five Europa League matches last season. City should win this game, but they will have to keep Edison Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik quite if they are to assure three points. Aguero is on fire and at 4/1 to score first might be worth a look.
Benfica v Manchester United
United fans must have been laughing when they discovered who they would face in the group stages of this season’s Champions League. With games against Benfica, Otelul Galati and Basel to come you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d virtually been given a bye, hence why they are 2/7 to win Group C.
United will probably be happy to get their toughest group match out of the way first because Benfica are no mugs on their own ground. United know how dangerous Benfica can be having been knocked out by them in the group stages in 2005. However, with Chelsea to come on Sunday in the league and five more matches after Wednesday in the Champions League, Sir Alex Ferguson has hedged his bets for this one and will rotate his squad.
Rio Ferdinand has been left behind, while Darren Fletcher, Park ji-Sung, Ryan Giggs and Dimitar Berbatov are poised to come into the starting XI. United are 10/11 for the win, which seems short when you consider Benfica’s home form – two defeats in 24 matches at the Estádio da Luz.
The Portuguese giants are 10/3 to cause an upset, with the draw 12/5. The Águias might have lost a couple of big names but they recruited well this summer and still have Oscar Cardozo on the books. A draw looks to be a safe bet, a result which will probably suit United.
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